Back in 2001 a group of journalists were mooching around Tynecastle, the home of Heart of Midlothian, one late autumn afternoon, when Craig Levein, then the Hearts manager, pulled one of us aside and said: “I need to tell you something . . . we’ve got a young guy on our staff here who is absolutely going to become one of the best goalkeepers in Britain, no question.”

There are quite a few Scotland fans, steeped in their preordained suffering, who give thanks daily for Craig Gordon. The goalkeeper has grown in stature and reputation since those youthful days at Tynecastle and Roy Keane and Sunderland’s supporters have seen plenty of evidence of his courage and agility between the posts. With his basketball star’s long limbs and laid-back style, Gordon has helped to put an end to an ignominious canon of dodgy Scottish goalkeepers flapping on the big stage.

Tomorrow’s sold-out Hampden Park crowd will once more feel safer and better for seeing Gordon take up his position when Scotland face Norway in a World Cup qualifier. Defence, in truth, has not been Scotland’s weakness of late, with heroic performances such as those against France in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, but it still helps when you have a goalkeeper of this talent in your ranks.

With towering John Carew bearing down on him, Scotland’s penalty area tomorrow could witness quite a set-to, although it is a game that Gordon is relishing. “On his day, Carew really is a world-class striker: great in the air, big, strong and quite quick as well,” the goalkeeper said. “He really does have a bit of everything and when he turns it on there’s very little you can do to stop him. He’s done very well in the Premier League and is scoring goals, so we will have to play very well to stop him. Norway have also got the likes of \ Riise to supply him with long throws and crosses into the box, and the ability to put us under a lot of pressure, so that is all something we will have to deal with.”

There is pain felt in Scotland at the international team’s ten-year absence from leading finals, yet speaking to Gordon about this almost has a soothing, palliative effect. Scotland’s best goalkeeper in years feels that something better is imminent, even in as tough a section as group nine of the 2010 qualifiers for South Africa.

“In my early days there was a lot of young players in the Scotland team with not a lot of caps, but now, with the big-game experience we have behind us in different environments and stadiums, it is only going to help us,” Gordon said. “All of us guys on 30-40 caps still have a lot of time left in our careers — we could conceivably have six to eight years left. Hopefully, I’ll also be around a bit longer because I’m a goalkeeper. We are still in our mid-20s, so to have that experience means we are able to help the next batch of players coming through.”

The immediate hurdle, however, is Norway tomorrow, with memories fresh of the 1-0 defeat inflicted on Berti Vogts’s Scotland by the Norwegians in the 2006 qualifiers, which did for Vogts as Scotland manager. Yet Gordon appears to have picked his way through the potential arithmetic of group nine and feels good about his team’s chances. “Getting the three points would be the ideal scenario on Saturday, as Norway would then have a lot to do to catch us,” he said. “I’m sure even if they did get beaten they wouldn’t throw in the towel but it would be a big blow for them.

“Our group is quite open. Beating Iceland was important for us because it was a difficult start, with the two away games. We were looking to do better in Macedonia, but the important thing was that we came back and showed what we were made of by grinding out a result against Iceland. Everyone expects Holland to win the group, but if we can’t win it, then we will hopefully be in the play-offs.”

If such a scenario unfolded, it would be a coup for George Burley, a Scotland manager who has seemed more convincing with each passing week as he has coped with each setback on the field. Gordon, for one, has no doubts about the manager’s ability.

“George is never one to get angry or upset,” he said. “He’d rather look at how we can sort something out, look at it objectively and show us what we should be doing rather than give out the hairdryer treatment. It worked to a degree in Macedonia, where the second half from us was better. The formation and the way the team looked in Iceland was perfect for that game. He has great ability as a coach.”

Hopefully, more people will be echoing these words come tomorrow evening.